The island was small — little more than the peak of an undersea mountain jutting above the surface, forming a strange, solitary landmass.
Its strangest feature was this: from the summit down to the beach, the trees were spaced out evenly, and every single one was exactly the same.
The distance between any two trees, their height, girth, even the lines in their bark and branches — all of it was identical to an uncanny degree.
Roya was even convinced that if he were to pluck a leaf from the same position on each tree and line them up, he would end up with a pile of leaves perfectly identical in every way.
It was as if, when creating this island, the Creator had gotten lazy and simply hit "copy and paste" ten thousand times in a row.
In a forest like this, there was naturally no reference point to navigate by.
Fortunately, the increasingly clear voice calling to him served as his guide, so Roya didn't lose his way.
After walking for about ten minutes without caring for direction, he arrived before a massive gate set into the mountainside.
The lintel was extraordinarily high — clearly not built to human proportions.
The double doors themselves were made of a strange material: they looked like some kind of black stone, yet shone with the luster of metal.
And yet, standing before the gate, Roya had the strange sensation of facing a living being — he could clearly feel the gate itself radiating a welcoming intent toward him.
With a soft sound, the two doors slid open to either side, the motion smooth and seamless, without the slightest hitch.
Not since Pirate King Roger, thirty years ago, had anyone set foot here.
Roya took a deep breath and stepped through.
Beyond the gate stretched a narrow passageway slanting downward, leading straight into the heart of the mountain.
At Roya's pace, he felt as though he should have already walked beyond the island's bounds.
Then, suddenly, light bloomed before his eyes.
The space opened up into a vast underground plaza, nearly a kilometer across.
In its exact center was a circular opening about ten meters in diameter.
From within that opening blazed a pillar of fierce flame, casting a fiery glow across the entire plaza.
Instinctively, Roya looked up — and saw that the domed ceiling covering the whole plaza sparkled with countless points of light.
A closer look revealed that these "stars" were actually strange gemstones, each gleaming like the night sky beneath the firelight.
But as he studied them further, Roya was astonished to realize that their distribution matched the constellations of the outside world exactly.
This discovery made him wonder if these gems might even shift their positions in accordance with changes in the heavens above.
Beneath this gemstone sky, carved into the walls near the ground, were a series of stone relief murals.
Roya's heart sank. He knew at once that the scenes depicted here might reveal the true history this world had once lived through.
Starting from the mural to his left, the first panel was simple: a barren planet shrouded in howling storms and torrential rain.
The gales raged on, but the desolate peaks and rocky valleys endured their ceaseless erosion in silence.
At the mural's center towered an enormous mountain — so vast and majestic it could only be the tallest peak in the world.
But in the second mural, the planet had changed dramatically.
The valleys, plains, and plateaus had all been drowned beneath a boundless ocean.
Only the tallest mountains remained above the waves, scattered across the world as solitary islands.
And that central mountain… had become a lone sea-bound peak — identical in form to Laugh Tale.
"So that's it… This is how the world came to be submerged."
Roya was awestruck, yet could not shake the feeling that such a torrential rain creating an entire ocean didn't quite fit with any natural law he knew.
In the blink of an eye, the mural before him stirred — transforming into a moving scene.
The "camera" seemed to zoom in on Laugh Tale at the center, as if from its own perspective, continuing to record the events that had once unfolded.
The clouds above suddenly split apart, and from the heavens descended a colossal pyramid wreathed in dark-green flames!
From the seams between its bricks, the same eerie flames spurted forth like thrusters, adjusting its trajectory.
At its pinnacle sat an enormous throne — built to the exact same design as the Empty Throne of Mary Geoise!
There was no doubt: this was the spacecraft of an alien race.
From the throne's peak burst a sickly green ring of light, sweeping from the planet's north pole along the latitude lines in an instant.
Clearly dissatisfied with the planet's current state, the pyramid began to skim low along the equator.
Wherever it passed, seawater boiled away and the earth quaked!
By some unknown technology, it reshaped the surface into a continuous band of land above sea level.
"This… this is the Red Line!"
Roya stared, dumbfounded. Then the base of the pyramid ship opened.
From within dropped two gigantic eggs — one black, one red — each at least the size of a stadium.
Even before they struck the sea, they shattered into countless black and red motes of light, scattering into oceans across the globe.
With a flash of green flame, the pyramid vanished into the void.
Roya swallowed hard, easing the dryness in his throat, and turned to the third mural.
The once-calm seas began to stir.
Life of dazzling variety seemed to bloom across the world in an instant.
From nowhere, flowers, trees, and grasses sprang up, while countless embryos formed within the seawater.
Carried on the tides, these embryos drifted to every corner of the world.
Those that remained in the sea naturally took form as marine creatures.
Those washed ashore became birds and beasts of every kind.
And born alongside them were humans… and fish-men.
Roya moved on without pause to the fourth mural.
Humans and fish-men advanced at a staggering pace.
It was as though they were born already knowing how to craft and wield tools, and before long they had secured absolute dominance over both land and sea in the brutal struggle for survival.
Then, without warning, strange fruits appeared among them.
No one knew where these fruits came from — only that eating one would grant a person power far beyond the ordinary.
The gap in strength between individuals widened rapidly.
Around these fruit-users, systems of power and authority formed at astonishing speed.
And in the bid to seize and monopolize these fruits, the various power systems soon fell into ceaseless conflict — both against rivals and within their own ranks.
Through endless battles and conquests, the strong grew ever stronger… and the weak ever weaker.
PS: Access the complete chapters/series at